Vote 'yes' on library levy request

We can tell you something important about anyone who says nobody uses our public libraries anymore: They haven’t been in one lately.

In 2015, 185,078 Community Library Network members came through the doors in Post Falls, Hayden, Rathdrum, Athol, Spirit Lake, Pinehurst and Harrison. That figure doesn’t count patrons of the Coeur d’Alene library, which shares books with the Network but is not financially supported the same way.

The truth is, our public libraries are popular. On our many visits to various branches, we have seen that they are particularly popular with the young and the old — two vital but often neglected populations.

As we call on voters to support the Network’s $5 million levy request, which will appear on the May 17 ballot, we respectfully offer an assignment before going to vote. Go to the library closest to you and see for yourself what it has, what it’s missing, and maybe most of all, how dear it is to its patrons. We believe voters will quickly see the value.

The levy request, which is fully detailed at http://bit.ly/1QTnj5p (or go to communitylibrary.net and click on the “Our libraries/our future” icon), will cost the owner of a $200,000 home about $17 a year for three years. That’s a tiny cost to pay to make our community libraries more efficient and more effective in serving their patrons.

Speaking of patrons, you do know that a library card is free, don’t you? That little card opens entire new worlds to you, at no cost whatsoever. That’s one of the reasons we feel good about spending a buck and a half a month to significantly improve our libraries.

While libraries might not be a matter of life and death, like public safety bonds and levies are, they are a matter of life and better life. It’s all about quality of life, and that’s something we’re afraid too many either don’t recognize or don’t appreciate.

Yes, some citizens struggle mightily to make ends meet. But in next Tuesday’s election, an all-too-familiar voting bloc that can afford it but will oppose any tax increase no matter the reason will most certainly be making their way to the polls, if they didn’t vote absentee already. The “hell no” contingent will have their say, it’s likely to be loud.

That’s where the rest of us are needed. Those who recognize how important our libraries are to quality of life in and around Kootenai County need to step up and have our say, too. Your vote will be for literacy. It will be for children having safe places to learn and grow when they’re not in school. It will be for the elderly, some of whom have their only computer access because of the library, and many others who thrive on the great literature and music and movies living in these friendly environments. And it will be for all the rest of us who love books and appreciate how we can get almost anything we want to read, almost as quickly as we want it.

The Press editorial board is voting an emphatic “Yes” on the library levy May 17. Please join us.